Marie Plachá

* 1934

  • "Here in Kamenný Újezd, the Germans who lived in Na Dolech were preparing and gathering. There were several of them, about three - Velek, Maša. I don't know, maybe two or three, and then Mr. Bartoň, they lived in Na Dolech. They also went to get dad, but dad was not at home, as he had to report. So, they told their mother that they had to go with them, picking up more Germans along the way. The first was a Mr. Velek. She was German, he was Czech, they had about three sons together, all of whom were in the war. One even died there. Near Moscow. So we stopped there for him. Back then, there was already some kind of guard there. Czech or whatever, I don't know that well anymore. You know, I was little. A child. They were there with rifles. The mother had to wait there before she left, so she went to the well, you know, she was nervous, she wanted to wet her lips, and they pointed all their guns at her. My sister and I were crying, we followed her. There we were crying that she was going to be shot. Mr. Velek went out, and there was nothing. We went on to find Mr. Bartoň, the Gestapo. There was half a village and a Russian car with soldiers stopped there. They gave my mother an order: 'You will go for Bartoň and tell him to come to the road in five minutes with his hands up.' She answered them: 'But I have never spoken to Barton, why are you sending me there?' - 'But you will go there.' Everyone was afraid to go there because it was believed that he was armed. She blessed us, we were believers, and left. Bartoň was already walking towards her, hands up. My mother told him to come to the road. And she left. Fortunately, there was no shooting. Then everyone consoled her. 'Don't be afraid, nothing will happen to you.' My mother said, 'I was not afraid, you don't need to console me.' Then they all jumped to him and led the procession. They came for another German. He was also a Czech who had a German wife. And we went through the parade. Of course, Bartoň had already been beaten. He was pure blood. They lynched him. We reached the pub. The women were already washing the floors and such. I stood there and was completely out of it. My mother was told that she did not belong there and that she should go home. "Nothing will happen to you." Bartoň. You know as there was a big chaos, he rushed into the yard, uncovered the well and jumped into the well. So, they took him out already dead.'

  • "It was probably already in the 1945, the death train was going, as they called those who were locked up in concentration camps. We saw that back then. It was in winter, in January, suddenly a truck drove by, it drove very slowly, and there were people on it badly dressed, terrible, on open wagons. Our dad ran and brought them bread, but there were the SS or guards watching them, so they didn't take anything. And they threw the dead along the way. There, just behind that barn, they threw one out there. And I think he is the one who is buried in Kamenný Újezd in the cemetery.”

  • "Because I came from a marriage where the father was German and the mother was Czech, I had to go to a German school. The German school was not in Kamenný Újezd, but in Boršov nad Vltavou. So I had to go there. Unfortunately, I was going there on foot then, I wasn't even six yet, and I was walking through the forest. School started in September. So, I had to walk alone through the forest, I was terribly afraid there, because it was terribly dark, in the forest, in such a dark place. I was always running through it and I was very scared there. Unfortunately, nothing could be done, I had to go there. I had to go there despite my will, as I didn't want to go there. They had to drag me there by force. Nothing could be done. All the children went to Czech school, I had to go to a German one. So, I didn't know much German. Although I spoke German with my father, it was only in a home manner. I clung more to my mother, who, of course, only spoke Czech, she couldn't speak German. So, I knew more Czech than German. There were really more Czechs in that school. I don't know, more Czechs than Germans. They were immigrants or those who had to leave when there were raids and such things. So, we were talking in Czech during breaks. That was good. I got used to it. We even had an Austrian teacher and she was quite nice, she talked to us nicely. So, I somehow made it through there."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    České Budějovice, 11.11.2021

    (audio)
    délka: 01:25:46
  • 2

    Kamenný Újezd, 25.05.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 01:22:30
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

I was Czech in a German school and then German in a Czech school

Marie Plachá, circa 1942
Marie Plachá, circa 1942
zdroj: archive of the witness

Marie Plachá, née Sitková, was born on October 11, 1934 in Kamenné Újezd to a Czech-German family. The Sitka family had a small farm in the Na Dolech settlement near Kamenný Újezd. Although her father, Karel Sitko, was German, the family considered themselves Czech and Czech was spoken at home. The witness only learned proper German at the German school in Boršov nad Vltavou, which she had to attend as the daughter of a German during the war. She didn‘t like the school, she never had German friends, and at first she didn‘t even understand much German. After the war, her father and grandfather were threatened with deportation. However, Anna Sitková‘s mother managed to prove that they had helped the Czechs during the war, and they both obtained Czech citizenship and were able to stay in the republic. At the end of the war, Red Army soldiers stayed at their farm. As an eleven-year-old girl, the witness was a witness to the Czechs dealing with the Germans, the humiliation of the German population and the rampage of the Revolutionary Guards in Kamenný Újezd. In the 1950s, parents were forced to join the local JZD (unified agricultural cooperative), where they worked until retirement. After completing economic school, the witness worked as an administrative worker in various businesses around České Budějovice. In the seventies, she joined the Communist Party. After 1989, she left the Communist Party. In 2022, she lived in Kamenný Újezd.